Fire-prevention means



A. F. EICKHOFF.

FIRE PREVENTION MEANS.

LlCATION FILED APR. 5. I920.

Patented "0m, 12, 19%

UNITED STATES AUGUST F. EICKHOFF, 0F OSCEOLA, WISCONSIN.

FIRE-PREVENTION MEANS.

Application filed April 5, 1920. .Serial No. 371,450.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUST F. EroKHoFF, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Osceola, in the county of Polk and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Prevention Means; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descri tion thereof.

1 y invention relates to new and useful improvements in fire prevention, and relates particularly to means for locating and combating fires in the walls of a building.

It is well known that a considerable proportion of fires have their beginnings between the walls of a building, particularly in a frame structure, and that it is extremely difiicult to quickly locate such fires and to combat them successfully when found. The principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide an arrangement for permitting access to various parts of the wall of a building.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an arrangement of this character which includes cover plates for normally closing the openings into the wall, such cover plates being of a nature which will permit them to be readily decoratedto harmonize with the rest of the wall so as to present a pleasing appearance.

With these general objects in view the invention resides in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed and shown in the drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 represents an elevational view of the surface of a wall of a room equipped with my fire prevention means.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the plane of the line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the plane of the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

In the accompanying drawing the invention is shown associated with the walls of a frame structure, but it is obvious that such a fire prevention means can be used in other relations and with different types of walls. Also various changes may be made in the difierent details of construction and in the manner of assembling the several parts of the invention without departing from the principles thereof or sacrificingv any of the advantages.

Referring more particularly to this draw- I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Oct. 12 1920.

ing, it will be seen that a building wall is formed of a preferably lath and'plaster inner wall 1 and an outer wall 2 between which is a space formed by the usual upright joists 3. The joists 3 divide the space between the inner and outer walls into a plurality of compartments in any one of which a fire may be started by known or unknown means, and under ordinary conditions it is quite difficult to determine in which of these compartments the fire is actually located. Furthermore it is impossible to combat the fire except by cutting openings in the inner or outer walls with any implements which may be at hand.

have discovered that a fire may be very quickly located and readily brought under control if an opening is made into each one of the compartments between the joists 3 and the inner and outer walls 1 and 2 respectively. In the present embodiment of the invention such openings are arranged in a horizontal row as shown in Fig. 1 and each is surrounded by a preferably rectan gular frame 4. The adjacent abutting ends of these frames are secured to the joists 3 in any suitable manner and are preferably built in the inner wall 1 with the laths and plaster.

Each of the frames 4 is rabbeted to receive and seat the bead 5 of a cover panel 6. These panels 6 preferably have their outer surfaces flush withthe adjacent surface of i the inner wall and they may be decorated in any desired manner to harmonize with the latter. Each of the cover panels 6 is removably retained in place within its frame by means of a pivoted locking plate 7 carried by the inner end of a pivot pin 8. In length the locln'ng plates are greater than the width of the panels and are adapted to engage the inner surfaces of the frames 4 as shown in Fig. 3. Handles 9 on the outer ends of the pivot pins 8 provide a means for turning the locking plates from inactive horizontal position to an active vertical position.

Ordinarily all of the panels 6 are locked in place, but as soon as a fire is thought to be started between the inner and outer walls of the building, the panels may be removed by unlocking the plates 7 and moving the same outwardly. The particular compartment between the joists 3 in which the fire is located can then be readily determined, and water or other fire smothering liquid 1 spective frames;-

I claim In a fire prevention means, the c01nbina'- tion With a building Wall having a plurality of independent compartments therein, one side of the Wall having a plurality of openings, one, communicating with each of the compartments, a'frame surrounding each of I into and out of engagement with the adja- 15 cent frame, and means for rotating each locking position.

In testimony. that I clainithe foregoing I have hereunto set my hand at Osceola, in 2 the county or" Polk and State of Wisconsin.

' AUGUST F. EICKHOFFQ locking plate to shift it to locking or un- 

